title: Strategies educated mothers use to ensure the health of their children.
abstract: Mothers attending the out-patients in a programme of primary health care in rural west Bengal were interviewed for obtaining personal, socio-economic, and health data. Anthropometric measurements were made on them and their accompanying children. Sixty-five of the mothers were educated (defined as primary level and above of education) and 136 were not. The uneducated group had experienced a greater rate of child loss at 130 per 1000 births compared to 58 per 1000 births in the educated group. They were shorter (mean height 1.487 +/- 0.0475 m) compared to the educated group (mean height 1.507 +/- 0.051 m; P less than 0.01). Their children had a higher proportion of growth deficiencies, significant for height-for-age (P less than 0.001). These differences persisted after controlling for socio-economic status. The strategies used by the educated mothers were significantly more appropriate than those of their non-educated counterparts with regard to pregnancy and childbirth, diarrhoea, immunization, family planning, and source of treatment in illness. The educated women also benefited more from the primary health care programme.
authors.affiliation: Tropical Child Health Unit, Institute of Child Health, London.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goodburn
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ebrahim
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senapati
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors